Mo' Like TorchBONER! (Nailed It!!)

[Lumenskir]

I mean come on, you guys are like the worst nerds ever.

So the newest Torchwood thing* has started up, but now it's on Starz and takes place in America a lot, which is...let's go with different for now. I don't want to blame my native home for lessening the Torchwood brand, but so far they haven't really brought the oomph as well as Children of Earth has.

*From my understanding, the first two proper seasons/series were basically "Adult Doctor Who" where 'adult' just meant "everyone sexes everyone" and wasn't actually that good, and then there was the miniseries of Children of Earth (the only thing Torchwoody I've actually watched) which was five hours of condensed awesome, and now Miracle Day is basically a 10-episode cable series but in the same "One story told over a short number of days" style as COE. So 'thing' seemed most appropriate.

Course, COE was able to demonstrate creepy through kids talking in unison, whereas MD's "Nobody is dying" is mostly creepy through abstraction ("Oh noes, in four months we could be seeing some major shit!"), although I will admit that the cutting of the charred neck tendons only to have the severed head still stare was disturbing, and I hope they do some more stuff like that.

Also, what it lacks in creepiness it's making up for with good ol' American action, as that van v. helicopter fight was pretty great.

So yeah, might be too early to tell if this'll match COE or fall way behind, but I'm perfectly fine with sticking it out for ten weeks until school starts up again.

Some things I want to get some opinions on

-So Jack can get hurt and doesn't automatically heal...fine, I get that. Why is the instant implication that he's mortal? Wouldn't you just assume that he's like all of us now and can be hurt but can't die? Although, if the final reveal is that some force made everyone else undying just so that Jack could be killed, that'd be pretty interesting.

-I really hope Russel T. Davies has gotten all of the American Justice System-babble out of his system. Preeety sure that you can't just walk away from a rapemurder sentence just by quoting some amendments. Stick to technobabble instead, please.

-I haven't watched COE in awhile, but did America (or any non-UK country) respond in any way or have anything to do with the possessed children scenario beyond reporting on them? I feel like they'd be more comfortable looking to Britain with help on the supernatural after something worldwide like that.

[Magus]

The cruel and unusual punishment clause has been the main argument for a lot of people whose executions have been screwed up in an attempt to prevent them from going through execution again., though I don't believe they've actually worked before. I believe the best they got was a death sentence remanded to life in prison or something. Some people have just had to go through the process twice.

In fact it doesn't make a lot of sense since pretty much all executions are worded in such a way along the lines of "until dead". The length of time required is not necessarily taken into account except as far as the cruel and unusual punishment clause is concerned, i.e. things should be as quick and painless as possible but its "hang by the neck until dead", "be electrocuted until dead", etc., not just until they get tired of trying. As such they'd simply have to move back his execution date until such a time as it seemed feasible to pull it off without causing pain or discomfort, or remand his death sentence to a life sentence, not let him go. But apparently he's going to become a cult leader or something, so...

I like the show. I haven't seen Children of Eden so I have nothing to compare it to, though. It was certainly exciting, though I'm confused: does everybody just try to kill the Torchwood operatives just because, or are we to assume these assassins are part of the group responsible for the immortality thing kicking in and they don't want Torchwood interfering?

[Lumenskir]

Yeah, law school has definitely made it harder for me to swallow "Well, [Case Name] and [Amendment] means we can do [X]" style talk, although I am still perfectly capable of accepting, say, switches in polarity curing everything.

And you should definitely check out Children of Earth. It's only five hours and like Miracle Day it's pretty much made so that anyone can jump into it without needing to be steeped in the lore (I certainly wasn't). It's also consistently great. Since they aren't showing this season consecutively you should have more than enough time to totally legally acquire it and consume it before the next episode.

[Magus]

Yeah I'll definitely watch it. Usually when enough people on the internet rant and rave about something's quality it must at least be decent.

[Krylo]

Yeah I'll definitely watch it. Usually when enough people on the internet rant and rave about something's quality it must at least be decent.

What internet have you been on?

[Fifthfiend]

-I really hope Russel T. Davies has gotten all of the American Justice System-babble out of his system. Preeety sure that you can't just walk away from a rapemurder sentence just by quoting some amendments. Stick to technobabble instead, please.

Fuck you can't even get out of it by being demonstrably innocent.

[Kim]

Fuck you can't even get out of it by being demonstrably innocent.

Sometimes you can by being demonstrably guilty.

[RickZarber]

I mean come on, you guys are like the worst nerds ever.I went to a Torchwood premiere party last night to watch it, does that count?So the newest Torchwood thing has started up, but now it's on Starz and takes place in America a lot, which is...let's go with different for now. I don't want to blame my native home for lessening the Torchwood brand, but so far they haven't really brought the oomph as well as Children of Earth has.Well, think of it this way: if it weren't for Starz co-producing, we might not have had any new Torchwood! And it may not have the oomph of COE, but it's gonna be twice as long, so it has time to do some slow burn story building.-I haven't watched COE in awhile, but did America (or any non-UK country) respond in any way or have anything to do with the possessed children scenario beyond reporting on them? I feel like they'd be more comfortable looking to Britain with help on the supernatural after something worldwide like that.Yes. The US military (and U.N.I.T.) took charge of the 456 operations in the UK after it was revealed that the British government had had past dealings with the aliens. Then, when all the shit came to light, the PM tried to pin it on the US--right before he was outed for all his ass-covering maneuvers. So both governments got embroiled in the scandal.

Also, Lumy, you should give series 1 and 2 a shot. While it is pretty much all those things you described, along with a huge dose of nihilism and a few pretty weak episodes, there's more good there than bad. Like, imagine the best and darkest X-Files episodes, toss in a bit of Doctor Who out-there alien zaniness, and you have Torchwood pre-COE.

[Lumenskir]

also: maybe this thread should have a spoiler warning?
My feeling is that, if the thread is made after the show/product has aired, you have to presume we're talking about what actually happened. Otherwise it just turns into a bunch of people trading blocks of gray text with each other while no one else bothers to open up the thread.
I went to a Torchwood premiere party last night to watch it, does that count?
All I'm saying is, I taped this last night while I went out, and then watched it in the morning, and no Torchwood thread had taken place yet. Ergo, this nerd forum is full of bad nerds.
And it may not have the oomph of COE, but it's gonna be twice as long, so it has time to do some slow burn story building.
Yeah, maybe I wasn't as clear as I wanted to be, but I'm completely fine with chocking up this hour's not being as good as COE's Day 1 to the fact that the supernatural occurrence we're dealing with just isn't as immediate as the other series. I've read that there is some delving into what a world full of undying people would actually mean for hospitals, but it just isn't as immediately creepy as a bunch of children speaking in unison for me.
Also, Lumy, you should give series 1 and 2 a shot.
I dunno, on another site the reviewer asked what the best Torchwood pre-COE moments were and the only unanimous consensus was some episode about cannibals. I'm more than happy imagining that COE was the start of Torchwood, especially when it goes out of its way to make it play like that for beginners.

[Aerozord]

The cruel and unusual punishment clause has been the main argument for a lot of people whose executions have been screwed up in an attempt to prevent them from going through execution again., though I don't believe they've actually worked before. I believe the best they got was a death sentence remanded to life in prison or something. Some people have just had to go through the process twice.

I know of this case, if I remember correctly he was still executed

In fact it doesn't make a lot of sense since pretty much all executions are worded in such a way along the lines of "until dead".
I believe the traditional line is "until you are dead, dead, dead" they are very clear about that last part.

[Magus]

What internet have you been on?

I have to admit it has possibly been a sheltered corner where people have decent taste.